The president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation said he expected increasing crime when counties began early releases of inmates as a result of of California’s Prison Realignment program.

“These are numbers that confirm what we were concerned about,” said Michael Rushford, of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. “When you leave criminals in the community and you lower the consequences for crime, you get more crime.”

Another study released Tuesday, by criminologists for the Council of State Governments Justice Center, found that people on parole and probation are committing 30 percent of new crimes in Sacramento.

That percentage is higher than Los Angeles, San Francisco and Redlands.

The study also pointed to deep cuts in the Sacramento County Probation Department, which has cut a third of the staff in recent years.

“We know who is going to commit the crime,” Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said.

He told KCRA 3 that the criminal recidivism rate in California is 70 percent.

“The inability to supervise them puts folks at risk and increases chances there are going to be additional victims,” Jones said.

Othesr say there is no connection between prison realignment and rising crime.

“The State’s Public Safety Realignment Law does not allow the early release of any state prison inmates, and anyone who says differently is simply trying to alarm the public,” said California Department of Corrections spokesperson Deborah Hoffman.

“It’s impossible to make claims about the cause of crime increases and decreases when looking at figures for a six month period," she said.

One notable exception to the crime trend is Elk Grove, where violent crime in the city dropped by 8 percent.

FBI statistics show that incidents of crime in Elk Grove decreased in seven other categories, including robbery, property crimes and auto theft.

In Sacramento, cart theft was up 21 percent with 1,771 vehicles stolen in a six-month period in the city limits.

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